Runoff moved to Dec. 18

Vote tallies still not clear

Nov. 13, 2012

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VINELAND — The election to decide the city’s next mayor and council is now scheduled for a week before Christmas, city officials said Tuesday.

The runoff, originally scheduled Dec. 4, was moved to Dec. 18 because the election has not yet been certified as the county is still tabulating votes, City Clerk Keith Petrosky said.

While voting machine totals have been tabulated, the provisional and vote-by-mail ballots have not been added to that tally, officials said. The election can’t be certified until all of the votes are counted, county officials said.

The mayoral runoff election appears to be between incumbent Mayor Robert Romano and local businessman Ruben Bermudez.

The runoff is necessary because no one mayoral candidate collected more than 50 percent of the total votes cast in the city during the Nov. 6 general election. For council, a runoff was needed because no two candidates gathered more than 50 percent of the votes. The top 10 City Council contenders proceed to the runoff.

On Monday, a letter from Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno issued a directive to all counties to extend the certification deadline to Nov. 21 because of the devastation throughout the state after Hurricane Sandy, according to Cumberland County Clerk Gloria Noto.

Many voters throughout the state were displaced when the storm rolled through the area the week before the election. The state extended deadlines and allowed for some faxed and emailed ballots in an effort to ensure every voter had a chance to cast a ballot.

And though Cumberland County wasn’t hit as hard as other South Jersey counties, the extended deadlines apply throughout the state. That means some vote-by-mail ballots may not be received until Nov. 19.

“All of these delays in the process have a ripple effect on the Vineland municipal runoff election. While the statute says the runoff shall by conducted on the fourth Tuesday after the general election, the other delays in election processing now require an adjustment to the date of Vineland’s runoff election,” Petrosky said. “From a practical standpoint, we can’t even schedule the ballot position drawing until we know with certainty who will appear on the ballot,” Petrosky said Tuesday night.

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Currently, there are 4,231 vote-by-mail ballots cast in Cumberland County. Petrosky said more than 1,500 vote-by-mail ballots were cast in the Vineland races.

“I am told there are 700 to 800 provisional ballots just for Vineland,” he added.

“Obviously the results from those ballots could alter the roster of City Council candidates on the runoff ballot,” Petrosky said.

Noto said the provisional ballots won’t be counted until all of the mail-in votes have been received and tabulated and has declined to release any numbers until all of the ballots are counted. There were more than 2,000 provisional ballots cast in the county, she said.

“I would rather wait until all the totals are correct before I give piecemeal answers on these totals,” Noto said Tuesday.

Liz Hernandez, administrator for the Cumberland County Board of Elections, did not return telephone messages to the office Tuesday. The Board of Elections is responsible for counting the votes.

With just the machine votes tallied, Romano is in the top spot with 7,749 votes. Bermudez is more than 2,800 votes behind at 4,899 total. However, candidate Perry Barse holds the third-place spot, with 789 votes behind Bermudez.

In the council race, Romano’s slate — Mayra Arroyo, Peter Coccaro, Maria Laboy, Antonio Romero and Nelson Thompson — currently have the most votes in the unofficial tally. Bermudez appears to have two candidates in the runoff: John Procopio and Maritza Gonzalez. Three candidates running Barse’s slate also appear headed for the runoff. Carlos Villar, Paul Spinelli and Anthony Fanucci each collected enough votes to make the top 10, based on current tallies.

But, council candidate Angela Calakos is just 10 votes behind the current 10th place holder and running mate Villar and fewer than a hundred tallies behind Gonzalez’ ninth spot.

Bermudez said Tuesday he’s concerned some voters may be more involved in holiday shopping and festivities than going to vote in the runoff now that it’s been pushed to a week before Christmas.

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“People have things to do this time of year because it’s so near Christmas time,” he said. “It’s confusing a lot of people, too. You set a date and change it. It could discourage people.”

Bermudez said Petrosky stopped by his store on Tuesday to inform him personally of the date change.

“We’re working and we’ve got people out there encouraging people to get out and vote. A lot of people think it’s over,” he said. “It concerns me a little. Everybody is really anxious.”

Barse has said he won’t comment on the election results until all of the votes are in. Romano offered no comment when asked about the rescheduled election.

Noto said Tuesday she’s aware how the changes are impacting campaigns.

“I would like to communicate that I am fully aware of my responsibilities and duties as county clerk, but I do feel that until we have a full certification by the Board of Elections of the total number of votes — certified by them as being counted — we cannot give a count until that time,” Noto said.

Noto said she is against giving out numbers before the election is certified for fear of misinforming the public.

“People will think they won one day and they won’t win the next day. I don’t want to mislead them. They’ll never believe I know what I’m doing if I give them two or three different totals,” Noto said.

In Vineland, ballot position drawings are scheduled for Nov. 27 to determine the how the candidates’ names will appear on the ballot, according to Petrosky.

The last day to register to vote is now Nov. 27 as well, he said.

Polls will be open 6 a.m to 8 p.m. Dec. 18 and open to all registered Vineland voters.

City officials voted in 2011 to change the election date from May to November as a cost-saving measure. It was anticipated the city would save $100,000 every four years because of the switch.

City Solicitor Alfred Verderose estimated the December runoff election will cost taxpayers an additional $80,000.

The runoff election is the first in the city since 2000 when Barse defeated then-incumbent Anthony “Tony” Campanella.

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